A Damn Dixon
by thewlkingdead
Summary: What happens when a woman who fears being loved falls in with a man who fears being alone? Surely it can't work, can it?
1. 1

Months.

It has been months since I had had a proper wash. Well, it had been months, if not years, since I've done a lot of basic things, but I was in need of a damn good wash, so that's what I was going to do.

Pleasurely, I waded into the greenish-brown lake until the water was up to my waist. Hell, it was no spa day, but it without a doubt, made a difference.

I gently laid my head back onto the water, letting my legs rise up off the ground, until I was floating in the still body of water. Even though I had never been a huge fan of the water before all the shit went down, I knew that I would hate myself if I passed up on such a rare opportunity like this.

So there I lay, floating, my bare breasts warming in the heat of the summer sun and a wide smile spreading itself across my face. I must've looked like a madman.

I stayed at the lake for about four hours or so, and, surprisingly, a good part of that time was spent actually in the water, floating, but also, scrubbing myself and attempting to comb through my matted hair clean. The other part, of course, was spent washing my clothes in the dirty lake; without soap of any kind though, it proved a very hard task. After a while, both my body and my clothes were near-free of any obvious dirt marks, but I can't say either of them actually smelt any better.

I thought of staying there, setting up a permanent camp in the wooded area surrounding the lake, but I knew I couldn't. How ever much I wanted to, and fuck, I really wanted to, I knew I had to carry on going, searching for a proper way of survival, whatever that might be. Stripping myself of the exhilaration that the feeling of not constantly having my hand on my knife or gun came with, I picked up what few belongings I had, put it all in my backpack, and set off again.

I didn't particularly mind being alone, not really. However, I did sometimes wonder how much safer I would feel if I were part of a group, of those were even a thing anymore. I didn't know, I just didn't know anything - I had had no communication with any other human being for at least a year. For all I know, everyone else may be dead. I may be it, the sole survivor of this absolute hell. That would be a sorry sight of course, out of all people to have survived, the thought of me, little Billie Carmine, to be the last man standing, did not fill me with any sense of hope for the world.

I laughed at the thought, out loud, like someone was there with me and had told me a joke. For years now, I had been on my own, so I have naturally adapted to acting on my own. It's not uncommon for me to talk to myself every now and again. I must admit, the thought of re-entering some form of civilisation by joining one of these possibly non existent groups, did frighten me quite a lot. Not only would I not know how to communicate with them, but the prospect of building relationships, me actually relying on someone else, and someone mutually relying on me, well, to be blunt, it scared the shit out of me.

I had become so engrossed in my thoughts, something that had become a regular occurrence, that I hadn't noticed the massive, metal, man made wall looming above me up ahead.

Luckily, neither had any of the few lookouts noticed me. I guess my theory about being the last one alive was wrong, but regardless, I felt my pulse quicken at the sight of not just one other, but three other humans in front of me. Quickly, I silently stepped back into a part of the woodland that I would not be spotted from in, crouched down, took my gun out its holster, and began to observe everything I could see.

And boy, what I saw, it was a lot

 _hi my lovelies! thanks so much for reading my new story! so I haven't written in a while and may be a bit rusty, so please, feel free to point out any mistakes or give any advice/constructive criticism, or y'know, just like completely hate on it? I'll try and write a few chapters in the next weekish to get the story going, but then may stick to weekly updates? who knows really? anyways, thanks so much! I really hope you enjoy it and would absolutely love it if you could heart and comment on it as well!_

 _amy:)_


	2. 2

I waited there, hidden, until it got dark. Not once in that time did anyone come close to spotting me. However, I did spot two major things: a large group of cars, a motorcycle, and a truck, enter through the front entrance, and, more importantly, I watched as a teenage girl, about three years younger than me, climb over the wall, and back over it again about an hour later.

That was it - that was my way inside. I decided that I'd have to do it that way, I couldn't just waltz up to the front gate and announce myself. They might shoot on sight. But it was a risk that I was willing, had to be willing, to take in my current position. I hadn't eaten anything substantial in days.

You see, I'm not so good at the actual hunting part of it all. Tracking, sure, a piece of cake. I don't want to be heard or seen? I won't be. I have everything in my skill set needed to be a hunter, except for one crucial thing: I have no bloody clue how to fire an arrow. The only weapons that I'm familiar with are handguns, hunting knives, of course, and sniper rifles, not that you come across many of the latter mentioned in this shithole, of which the guns are too noisy to use in the woods when you're riding solo. They're a beacon to both the dead and the humans. And, even though humans may not be able to hear me when I'm creeping up behind them, the animals sure are, so the knife is no good unless I throw it at directly at a small animal, which does yield results, but not enough of them.

So, that's what I did, I scaled the wall, silently, in the dead of the night, on my mission to find some food. I decided that I wouldn't take what I didn't need, so no rummaging around for weapons or new shoes or any shit like that. I needed to get in and out as fast as I could.

The sights that I saw once over that wall, oh God, were they amazing. Mansion after mansion, all lined up along the street made of real tarmac, a church with a grand spire and beautiful stained glass windows, and, lo and behold, a massive vegetable patch just a few steps away. I didn't know where to look, at the marvel of matching houses that almost made me forget about it being the end of the world, or at the abundance of food that was readily available for my picking at the vegetable garden.

Still in awe, I rushed to the food, took various vegetables and fruit out the ground and off their bushes, and stuffed them into my backpack. I tried my hardest not to ruin their patch too much - it was kept in good shape, so someone here must care for it enough that they would be upset if I did mess it all up. Regardless of the food that I had gathered, I still needed to collect some long-life food, cans of sorts. I scanned my surroundings, figuring out where to go next; I chose the house across the street from me as it was the one with the least decor on its exterior, the least personalised one.

Carefully, I made my way through the heart of this community's buildings, becoming more and more vulnerable with every step, across the street and into the house that would hopefully be the one I was looking for. I opened the unlocked door, my heart race increasing slightly when it squeaked, and feasted my eyes upon the absolute heaven I had stumbled upon: shelves upon shelves of non-perishable food, all ripe for my picking. Now, I didn't know how big this community was, so I didn't want to take enough that it would have a detrimental effect on them, but at the same time, I did need to be a little selfish. Hell, you can't survive in this world without selfishness these days.

After a short time of deliberating what I should take based on how much of everything there was, I felt satisfied with then weight of my backpack, and so, silently, apart from the squeak of the door, I left the building. I went at quickly as I could without making any sounds to the wall, and, once successfully at the base of the wall, I paused for a moment to see what the best way of getting out of here would be.

A gun cocked.

"Where ya off to in such a hurry, sweetheart?"

—-

 _yes hello there! so thank you to the few people who are reading this atm (hopefully they'll be a few more of you in time)! I really hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it for ya'll. as always, feel free to tell me what I can do to improve, and also, please heart/comment as it honestly means so much to me! i love you all!_

 _amy xx_


	3. 3

Slowly, I raised both arms up above my head, surrendering. As I raised my arms, I felt my heart sink. My back was still turned on this man with the southern accent, and I found myself too frightened to face him.

"Lay down ya weapons girl," said the heavy accent. I did as I was told, taking my hunting knife and handgun out of their holsters and placing them gently on the floor. "That all ya got? Geez, how the hell you still alive?" The voice said with a sarcastic tone, "Now turn round and slide them over to me. Ya backpack too."

With a deep breath and an accelerated heart rate, I turned around to face this mysterious man. I couldn't make out much of him, except for his shaggy brown hair that framed his face and the crossbow that was currently pointed at me. I moved down to the ground and slid across my gun and knife, his crossbow was fixed on me at all times. Then I took off my backpack and gave that to him too. He kicked my gun and knife behind him and picked up my backpack to inspect the contents; when I heard him chuckle to himself I knew he had found all the food. Shit.

Making me jump, another man's voice rang out across the silence of the night, "Hey Daryl, what you got man?" I watched as a bearded man jogged into view, his gun fixed on me, as soon as I came into his sight, same as the southern man's crossbow, Daryl, I think.

"Its only her, and she's travellin' light: one .44 and her huntin' knife. Made a dent in our food supply though - cans and veg. Compliant, but she ain't said shit." The two men looked at each other, back at one of the houses, nodded, and looked back at me again.

"C'mon, over this way," the bearded man said to me as he leant his gun on my back and his other hand on my shoulder. I didnt think it was possible, but I felt my heart rate speed up even more; it felt like my heart was going to rip out of my chest at any moment. "Now don't give us a reason to shoot you okay?" Said the same man, breaking the silence yet again. So there we were, the three of us, walking along the pitch black street to one of the houses, not that I knew which, with the two mens' weapons pointed directly at me. I couldn't get out of this one.

The one with the crossbow pounded at the door of the house that we arrived at, announcing our presence and checking that no one else was in there, as we walked through the door. The inside of the houses almost outshone the exterior - the furniture they had in here was nicer then the stuff I had at home before the dead roamed. However, I didn't get a good chance to take in all the amazing furniture as I was taken downstairs almost as soon as we had walked through the door. Now, the decor downstairs was, shall we say, not as inviting as the stuff upstairs. It was a simple, small room, with a prison cell in the corner. My guess that that was for me was a correct one.

I got lightly pushed into the cell, and heard it lock immediately after. I didn't deserve to be in that fucking cell, but I guess they just didnt know that then.

"Look, we're putting you in here just a precautionary action. We don't want to hurt you, and we sure as hell don't want you going round hurting us either. We'll come again in the morning, but I can't say for certain that we will have decided what to do with you yet. It would help if you could tell us a bit about you though," as the man with the beard said the last sentence, my gaze shifted from where his voice was coming from, to the ground, not that he could see me anyway. "Well then, suit yourself," he paused, as if giving me one last chance to talk. I wanted to, I did, I wanted to plead for my innocence and explain that I just needed food, that was all, I wanted to say that it was stupid of them to lock me in the cell as I had no intentions of hurting anymore, but I just couldn't. "Let's go Daryl."

"Nah man, I think I'm gonna stay here for tonight, see that she don't try anything. You go ahead though, I'll see ya in the mornin'," the other man just shrugged and sighed, and then began to walk back up the flight of stairs. Daryl slumped down in the corner, his crossbow on the floor but ready for him to grab if I were to lash out. I wasn't, he was waisting his time and losing sleep, but I couldn't tell him. I lay down in my cell, making sure my back was facing him and quickly fell asleep. Despite the situation, the floor of this room was still the comfiest bed I'd had in a long time.

Daryl, on the other hand, didn't sleep at all that night.

—-

 _Hello! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! As always, please heart/follow/comment as it means the world to me and really motivates me to continue writing! Love y'all,_

 _amy x_


	4. 4

p style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"I woke up in an unfamiliar place, with an unfamiliar man looking down at me, with a look of comfort on his face. I soon remembered my unsuccessful attempt at stealing food from this place, sighing at the thought of food; however, this still didn't explain who this man was. /p  
p style="font-family: -webkit-standard;""Morning," his hair was in need of a slight trim, I thought, the curls were just about getting unruly, "I'm Aaron, a member of the community here at Alexandria. I work as a scout, finding other communities like ours to trade with; Daryl and I do it together, who you must've met last night?" It blew me away at the fact that this man, Aaron, mentioned that this community wasn't the only one like it. Boy was my theory off by a long shot./p  
p style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"My cautious and unwilling approach to conversation from last night was still present. It annoyed me, and I knew that not talking may even land me in more trouble with this group, but I just couldn't bring myself to doing so. I was still terrified./p  
p style="font-family: -webkit-standard;""I've been told that you're not much of a talker," Aaron lightly chuckled, "but tell me, what's your name?" Luckily, footsteps down the stairs interrupted the awkward silence that was about to follow in which I, once again, would refuse to talk. I turned my head to the origin of the noise and I watched as Daryl comes walking down the stairs, holding something out in front of him. /p  
p style="font-family: -webkit-standard;""Judgin' from the amount of food you tried to steal last night, ya must be bloody starvin'. So, 'ere ya go," the fixation of my gaze upon the floor was broken by the sound of the cell door unlocking. I looked up, and I saw that Daryl was holding a tray of various fruit and vegetables, a small but of tuna and a large glass of water. However, it wasn't the assortment of food that caught my eye./p  
p style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"For the first time, I could finally see the face of my apprehender from last night. His hair was longer than I thought it would be, coming to just below his ears and naturally waving slightly, most probably due to the exposure to the extensive heat. His bright blue eyes were a little squinted and his sharp facial structure made it so his hair gently framed his face. He was in no way bad looking, shall I say. /p  
p style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"I studied his rugged face for a few moments, possibly a few moments too long, and then gave him a meek nod and a smile as a thank you, but I wasn't sure that it was too effective. I continued to watch and study his movement - the way in which his muscles in his, slightly sunburnt, arms moved and contracted when he put the food down in front of me had somehow become extremely fascinating to me./p  
p style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"That, or, they gave me something else to focus on, allowing me to avoid his stern gaze./p  
p style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"After a solitary grunt-like noise was made by Daryl - possibly one of disgust, or annoyance - he stepped out the cell, once again locking the door, and made his way up the stairs and to an unknown part of their settlement to me. How I longed to follow him. Well, not him specifically, my longing was for the chance to stretch my legs. /p  
p style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"My thoughts were interrupted by Aaron speaking to me, but in a calm, forgiving tone, the opposite to the coldness that I felt from Daryl on the most part, "Lola. That's what you look like - a Lola."/p  
p style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"Aaron smiled to himself so happily that it looked like he had just discovered a cure for all of us, when in reality, he had just discovered what he thought my name was. Of which, his guess was incorrect, of course. "Well then, thats what we'll call you until you tell us your name. Any objections? No? Good. Well then, Lola, why don't you eat your food and then I'll show you around the place."/p  
p style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"Finally, a chance to get out of this cell, to actually walk around. I smiled back at him, this time, however, it was a very real, genuine, smile./p  
p style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"_/p  
p style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"Hello my lovelies! Sorry for my absence, and therefore my lack of updates, as well. Regardless, I hope that you really enjoyed this chapter, even though not much happens except for Billie meeting Daryl's goddamed polar opposite, Aaron! (Honestly he is my fave) Please like, comment, favourite, and all that shit bc I just love getting feedback? Thank you!/p  
p style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"amy x/p 


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